Pete_SMS Posted February 23, 2014 Author Report Posted February 23, 2014 Sunday Beaver Update 12 Hello, time for the Sunday update and today I can actually show some new pictures. At least something visual today. This week I kept myself busy with a few more changes to the cockpit interface and I sent the new version off to the test team a few minutes ago and I hope they come back with positive results for their external equipment. If so, all this re-work was worth it. My plan is to finish all cockpit animations and controls by the end of next week and then maybe two or three days on the external ones. Then I will have all the visuals in place. After that I will dive back into the more technical stuff like flight modeling, systems coding and sound again and I am really looking forward to it. The visuals I can show today are for the Beaver pilot. He got a headset now and it not looking so tanned anymore. You will also see two shots of him in the cockpit, but don't be afraid that he will be there forever. He will only be visible in external view. I just did these shots so that you can get a better impression of what he looks like. You all have a nice Sunday! 5 Quote
rleendertz Posted February 23, 2014 Report Posted February 23, 2014 awesome work, patiently waiting, thank you! Quote
almostpilot Posted March 2, 2014 Report Posted March 2, 2014 I hope you can keep your promise re step 1 release… waiting here too... Quote
Pete_SMS Posted March 2, 2014 Author Report Posted March 2, 2014 Have been out of town for a few days, so no update today. Most probably a mid week update soon. Have a nice weekend. Quote
vsully Posted March 3, 2014 Report Posted March 3, 2014 (edited) Can you please make a C.A.P livery like the ones flown in the Alaska wing?http://www.airliners.net/photo/Civil-Air-Patrol/De-Havilland-Canada/2127650/M/I've flown in a few other Civil Air Patrol planes, always wanted to fly in one of these! Edited March 3, 2014 by vsully Quote
Pete_SMS Posted March 9, 2014 Author Report Posted March 9, 2014 This one was on my list of possible liveries. Not sure though if it will make it into the first release. Quote
Pete_SMS Posted March 9, 2014 Author Report Posted March 9, 2014 Sunday Beaver Update 13 Hi, The mid week update didn't work out, but the Beaver made good progress again during the second half of this week. 3D cockpit and external Animations All switches and controls in the 3D cockpit are now hooked up properly again and can be accessed via my custom cockpit interface. As you know I tried to support external hardware, but not everything was working out as planned. The radios can be operated properly via external radio equipment. However, switches were not always properly working and some of the Beaver switches are not supported by external hardware anyway, so the virtual cockpit has to be used. Everything can be operated properly via the virtual cockpit though. I will provide the list of all custom and standard XP datarefs which are used in the 3D cockpit, so if somebody wants to make custom hardware work, he or she should be able to do so having this information. The cockpit lights (instruments, map, cabin, warning lights) are properly working now, according to their state and power source and the same is true for external lights. I also added a few more animations for the external model. The prop, flight control surfaces and the tires are working fine now. A nested animation for the tail wheel steering is driving me crazy at the moment, because the parenting of parts is correct from my point of view, but I will figure it out. Systems I also continued with systems coding and the main part has been the implementation of the S-TEC autopilot. Still some work to do, but it looks fine so far. That's it for this Sunday. 5 Quote
Pete_SMS Posted March 16, 2014 Author Report Posted March 16, 2014 Sunday Beaver Update 14 Hello all, As you probably know I spent the last week on the S-TEC 50 autopilot and it was driving me nuts at the beginning, because my custom code was fighting with the stadard XP behaviour. However, I reached a state where the S-TEC can be operated almost as the real one. I guess most people won't notice it and won't miss anything. I am quite happy with it now. All availabel modes are working like STB, ALT, HDG, NAV, APR and REV. You can also manually roll the aircraft to a selected heading by using a rotary knob. I haven't done any AP constant fine tuning yet. This will be part of the flight model testing and tuning. I am getting closer to the development state where I could show a video for demonstration purposes. You all have a nice day! 7 Quote
Pete_SMS Posted March 25, 2014 Author Report Posted March 25, 2014 Hi all, I am very sorry that I was not able to do my last Sunday update. I was sick and had a flu and wasn't able to do anything on my computer, but it is getting better now. My little girl at home likes to share every virus and infection with daddy. Quote
bminton Posted March 25, 2014 Report Posted March 25, 2014 Glad to hear that you are all feeling better. This was a bad flu season! Quote
DocBird Posted March 27, 2014 Report Posted March 27, 2014 (edited) Pete, I hope you two get well soon! Keep up your great work! It may well be the case that this is the project that draws me over to X-Plane after twenty years of MS flight simulation ... Edited March 27, 2014 by DocBird Quote
Pete_SMS Posted March 30, 2014 Author Report Posted March 30, 2014 Sunday Beaver Update 15 The flu had me back and I was sick for a few more days. You should never think that you are over it too soon and hope that you can cope with the remaining by taking medicine. Well, at least for me that didn't work out and I felt really sick again. Anyway, today was the first day where I really felt better and I could spend some time on the Beaver again. Nothing major to report, but at least I could get back into the development groove. I worked on animations again and really hope to have them done by the end of next week, because I want to continue with the flight model and systems again. However, I guess it is a good idea now to finish one thing instead of jumping back and forth between topics. Also the Beaver beta test team increased by two people and I am really happy to have them test fly the Beaver. I am sure everybody will work hard to iron out the issues that might come up during the beta phase, while having lots of fun doing it. Stay tuned for more news next week and I really hope that this was the last boring update.... Quote
hobofat Posted March 31, 2014 Report Posted March 31, 2014 Glad you're feeling better! The flu is not fun. Quote
Pete_SMS Posted April 6, 2014 Author Report Posted April 6, 2014 Sunday Beaver Update 16 Well, I was able to spent around five to six hours on the Beaver this week. Not a lot, but when I look at what was going on at work and at home, I am happy that I could spend some time on it. As I already said last week, I continued with the animations and ran into a few blocking issues. I thought that the fuel tank selector animation and the hook up with the corresponding dataref is a piece of cake, but not so. I haven't figured out yet how I can set the dataref to my tank in question, based on my fuel tank selector psoition in the cockpit. It looks as if the dataref just knows left, right and both, while I have front, center and aft. All I tried wasn't working so far, or at least I din't get the results I was looking for. However, I haven't spent a lot of time on this. Bugger! But as everything else, I will figure it out in the end. I also had a few issues with the external model mesh, because it was not setup properly for animation in a certain area and I am in the process of fixing this. These are the things you learn when you do an aircraft for the first time, but at least I know what to look for when I will work on the next aircraft. Believe me, I already learned a lot from mistakes. So yes, I am working on all these things and I move forward at a slower pace at the moment, but I feel OK with it, because I know that all will get done in the end and you will be able to fly the Beaver. Promise! Have a nice Sunday! 5 Quote
Pete_SMS Posted April 7, 2014 Author Report Posted April 7, 2014 The issue with the fuel tank selector is solved. Next! 3 Quote
Pete_SMS Posted April 13, 2014 Author Report Posted April 13, 2014 Sunday Beaver Update 17 Hey, this week was much more productive than the last three or four. Yes! As I said in my previous post, the issue to have the fuel tank selector correctly working is solved. My initial feeling was that I can easily assign the tank I want to get fuel from to the dataref in question, especially since planemaker allows to setup nine tanks. However, this was not the case. The dataref only knows the the left, right and center tank, all or none position. So if you have three tanks all sitting on the centerline, you run into a problem, because XP cannot figure out what is left, right etc. So in order to solve this, you have to slightly offset the tanks from centerline, in order to let XP know which tanks to use. The offset is of course very small, so that it doesn't have an impact on the flight characteristics and is also not messing with the CG. OK, so much for the technical details. Besides that, I finished the tail wheel steering mechanism animation, and a few other external animation issues I had. So execept a few details, the external animations are done. Also in the cockpit and cabin almost everything is animated now. The doors animations for the pilot and co-pilot are in place as well and the door angle depends on the airspeed. So as it gets higher, the doors will close more and more, until they are finally shut. I haven't implemented the animations for the passenger doors, because I was asking myself how many people would actually use this feature. Who wants to be able to open and close the passenger doors from inside? Don't know. Not me. I hooked up my stand alone electrical system again, after a few code changes, and it works as advertised. Also the electrical starter and the whole custom engine start procedure works correctly now. Had a few issues in the past, but now it is just tweaking it a bit. Had to make a design decision for the starting procedure as well. Well, in the Beaver you start the engine by holding the starter switch, count a few blades and then you switch the mags to "BOTH" and you let go the starter switch. It wont stay in position if you don't hold it. So in XP this could be a little hard to do. You cannot really hold one switch in position and operate another one at the same time if you use the virtual cockpit. So I made the implementation in the following way. You switch the starter on and it will stay in postion without constantly holding it. Then you can move the mags switch and the starter switch will move to the off position automatically, following some logic. That way you don't have to worry about that you forget about the starter switch and it stays on the whole time. This would be not good! However, this also doesn't mean that the engine will start-up all the time or without problems. Did some changes to the flight model, to make the landing behaviour a bit safer. In the past you could easily run out of elevator before touch down, if you didn't watch you airspeed and landing procedure. I heard from a pilot that you could have this problem in the real aircraft as well. However, I had the feeling that it was alittle bit too pronounced for the flight model. If you know what you do, it won't happen, but I could imagine that a few people could get frustrated by hitting the ground too hard and pulling the yoke all the way back. So I gave back more elevator power again. What else....hmmm....a few minor changes here and there and overall, I am very happy with my progress this week and I hope you like the update a bit more this week. You all have a nice Sunday! 5 Quote
Pete_SMS Posted April 27, 2014 Author Report Posted April 27, 2014 Sunday Beaver Update 18 Hi guys, Just a small update. Well not a lot of details to report as I have been writing code this week. I continued with systems coding, especially for the engine and the stand-alone oil system is now in place. Oil pressure and oil temperature depend on outside air temperature, airflow over the engine, power setting and more. I am very happy with the result so far, but tuning still needs to be done. However, this is not the big chunk of work anymore. I was just wondering if you guys really want to sit on the apron or taxiway and warm up the oil in a realistic way. If you fly in Alaska and have a very cold day, this warm up can take up to 15 minutes until you reach the first red line temperature of 40 degC. When you start with engines running, all temperatures, pressures should be OK, but if you start cold and dark, warm up could take a while on a cold day and on a regular 15 degC day somewhere between 4-5 minutes. Would that be OK for you or does this kill your fun factor. Next is Cylinder Head Temperature and Fuel Pressure. Have a nice Sunday! Quote
eaglewing7 Posted April 27, 2014 Report Posted April 27, 2014 It is realistic, and everyone wants more realism, so I don't see why that would be an issue. Of course, you could have some sort of easy mode setup (like in the Hydroz.net Catalina), where that could be circumvented. Quote
JohnMAXX Posted April 27, 2014 Report Posted April 27, 2014 I agree, if you start cold and dark yes make it as realistic as possible, if it can be circumvented by having the plane start with having it running on startup then thats easy to support...... Just my opinion I haven't commented on your efforts but this is one that will make its way into my hanger............ Quote
chaps Posted April 27, 2014 Report Posted April 27, 2014 I think it is an excellent idea. The more realistic the better. I assume that it will also have frost/moisture on the windshields that will have to wait for some engine heat and a recirculating fan to clear? I'll be one of the first to buy this. Hopefully it won't be too much longer 1 Quote
Ntr09 Posted April 28, 2014 Report Posted April 28, 2014 I agree that warm-up should be very realistic. I love engine model realism. Being able to "get up 'n' go" with "Start with engines running" should keep casual simmers happy. -NR Quote
jonrd463 Posted April 30, 2014 Report Posted April 30, 2014 Ditto on the warmup comments. Absolutely, put it in there, but if it's possible to circumvent, win/win. Heck, speaking for myself at least, even the more hardcore among us sometimes want to just get in the air when time's a factor. Really can't wait to see this baby in motion! Quote
Anariaq Posted May 2, 2014 Report Posted May 2, 2014 I have one question about this aircraft.Will there be an option to have a gps installed? Quote
Pete_SMS Posted May 4, 2014 Author Report Posted May 4, 2014 Hi Anariaq, I took the GPS out for now and there won't be an option for now. However, if Laminar provides a more realistic GPS, I might consider it in an update. No promises though. Quote
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